Love (luh-vuh; English), Amor (ah-more; Spanish), Ask (ash-keh; Turkish), Liefde (leaf-deh; Afrikkaans), Liebe (lee-buh; German), Gra (grah; Irish), Cinta (cheen-tah; Indonesian)… No matter in what language you say the word “love,” it means the same thing. Or does it? The Oxford Dictionary defines love as, “an intense feeling of deep affection; a person or thing that one loves; feel a deep romantic or sexual attachment to (someone).” Of course, even the different dictionaries have varying definitions. Then there is the concept of the four kinds of love that have been credited to C.S. Lewis’ book “The Four Loves.” Based upon his writings, these are “Storage” (affection), Eros (romance), Phileo (friendship), and Agape (charity or unconditional love). To take it even further, many say that God is love. The problem is that many people put conditions on that love. These conditions are man-made, and man (or women) will tell you who you should or should not love based upon their particular belief system and say they are speaking for God. When Jesus spoke a new commandment for us to love one another, and to love our neighbors as ourselves, he never made any exceptions. When we say that God is love, we really don’t have the human terminology to explain just how infinite, magnificent, and wonderful this love really is! It’s unconditional! It’s all inclusive! And this love is for everyone! Trying to explain this love is like trying to explain God. We all have our diverse definitions based upon our experiences with God and love. Recently, I read a great concept of love that really resonated with me. The author suggested that love is a frequency. You can call it the pure, unconditional, perfect love of Spirit, you can call it the “Christ Consciousness,” or you can call it God. Again, let’s not get hung up on human terminology. But once you become aware that you are this love, it changes your whole perspective on your life, on people, and the world around you. If you take a sample from every single thing on earth (people, animals, nature, inanimate objects, etc.) and put it under the most powerful microscope, you will find that everything…and I mean everything…is made of the exact same “stuff.” Energy. That’s it! Energy! Wayne Dyer once suggested taking the labels off of everyone and everything, and when you do, you realize it’s all one energy. I tried this once. I looked around me, took off all the labels, and it happened. It only lasted for a second or two, but everything blended into everything else. It was enough to make a really big impression on me as to how connected we all really are. The Bible says “Let us make mankind in our image.” Image meaning essence. It was never intended to mean physical form. God’s love is an essence/energy through everyone and everything! We are made of the same energy! We are made of and from that love! Father Joseph Langford (no relation) stated, “If we were to take all the love in every heart of everyone on earth, and add it to all the love of all those who ever existed throughout history, then add the love of all saints in heaven, and all the angels, seraphim and cherubim, and pour all that love into one heart, and direct that love on ourselves, it would still fall infinitely short of the love God is pouring out on each one of us, right now. Because God is infinite, his love is not divided, with each of us receiving but a portion. We each receive the totality, the fullness of divine love, twenty-four hours a day, every day of our lives.” For those who read my column, you know that I write a lot about love and how important it is to love everyone unconditionally regardless of color, race, religion, politics, sexual preference, walk of life, and so on. This is what all the great spiritual masters have taught throughout time. I know it’s not always easy; trust me, I know. But with everything going on in the world right now, I’m learning more and more just how important it is. (This doesn’t mean that we condone harmful actions; people still need to be held accountable.) It is only through love that we will achieve peace in the world. Therefore, the more people who realize how much we really are that love, then maybe, just maybe, we can let our love shine and let it embrace all those around us. And that, my friends, is God’s love. Published in the Cookeville Herald Citizen newspaper July 5, 2013.